KIDS CAN

A local food drive began with a sixth-grader’s belief that “Kids Can” have an impact on the world around them.

Over the last year, Tony Ramirez had heard about one out of every five people in the country would go to bed hungry. His mother, Sandy Millman-Ramirez had talked to him about hunger increasing around the world.

They visited the San Antonio Food Bank on President’s Day to learn more about the issue.

When the curly headed 12-year-old learned about kids in San Antonio waiting to go to school to get a full meal, he wanted to do his part to help them.

He thought of his family’s pasttime of garage sales, and instead of currency, he thought why not exchange canned goods for toys?

Backed by his principal, Tony enlisted his classmates and faculty at the Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran School.

He asked them to find gently used toys during Spring Break and bring them in on Tuesday. He put up fliers that asked the question, “Have you ever gone to bed with that hungry feeling?”

And he called the food drive, “Kids Can.”

Barrels of toys arrived at his house. Not all were used — some parents had bought new toys to add to the collection.

Tony and his family worked through the weekend cleaning and packaging more than 800 toys to line the tables.

From 7:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. the students filed into the school gym, carrying bags of canned food.

At the end of the day, they had brought in 1,366 pounds of food for the San Antonio Food Bank. More cans were still streaming in as 5 p.m. rush hour traffic began.